We’re Clever Girls

What I Watched Last Night, Or: Putting the Sci in Sci-Fi

Last night, my science fiction choice for marathon-ing was based on nostalgia- I watched Farscape. As a kid, Farscape was a big, beautiful show, and one that seemed so grown-up while still being full of adventure. Watching it as an adult, I found that the way I appreciated the show changed to focus more on seeing what parts of the show were inspired by actual science. (Minor contextual spoilers, but major plot spoilers are avoided.)

Obviously, shows get plenty wrong. The general public sadly has a weak idea of current science events. But concepts being floated in scientific and philosophical communities have been inspirations for science fiction as a genre since its inception. Even Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein took inspiration from theories around how life works and where life comes from, if only as a means to explore psychological and philosophical phenomena.

So today I’m going to give you some links to a bit of science that is related to each of the episodes I watched last night. I’d love to see some discussion about how they were used or speculated upon within the episodes from fellow fans. (New to Farscape? It’s on Netflix Instant!)

1×11 Till the Blood Runs Clear

This episode starts out by John (Ben Browder) and Aeryn (Claudia Black) trying to recreate the conditions of the wormhole that brought John to their side of space. In the cold open, they succeed in making one but it is too unstable to attempt and they must land on a planet nearby for ship repairs. The problem is, they are under a time constraint because solar flares are needed to recreate the correct conditions. Solar flares interfered unexpectedly in the series pilot with John’s theories on overcoming atmospheric friction due to related electro-magnetic wave phenomena.

Rhapsody in Blue focuses on Zhaan (Virginia Hey)’s race, the Delvians. The Delvian religious practices are the main tools by which the plot is run, particularly a form of joint meditative practice called Union. Through meditative practices, Delvian priests (“Pa’us”) gain a number of abilities to heal and perceive clearly.

This episode centers around genetic modification and ethics, as the passengers of Moya offer their DNA to a mad scientist in exchange for star charts. Going into details on the plot any more than that would bring spoilers, so I’ll skip right to the good part: Science!